WASHINGTON, Feb 22, 2013 (AFP) - Lance Armstrong's legal team released studies on Friday conducted by the U.S. Postal Service saying the U.S. government sponsorship of his Tour de France team produced a triple return on investment.

The documents were made public as the U.S. government joined a lawsuit that claims Armstrong—who admitted to doping after being stripped of seven Tour de France cycling titles— defrauded former sponsor U.S. Postal Service.

The lawsuit had been filed by Floyd Landis—a former Armstrong teammate who was stripped of the 2006 Tour de France crown for doping (to which he admitted)—alleging Armstrong defrauded taxpayers by claiming he was winning Tour de France titles without taking performance-enhancing substances.

Armstrong attorney Robert Luskin said in a statement that talks with federal lawyers collapsed over how to measure damages, with Armstrong's side saying the Postal Service reaped huge benefits from its cycling sponsor deal.

"Those talks failed because we disagree about whether the Postal Service was damaged," Luskin said. "The Postal Service's own studies show that the Service benefited tremendously from its sponsorship—benefits totaling more than $100 million."

To support the claim, Armstrong's camp released sponsorship evaluations from 2001, 2002 and 2004 that attempted to place a monetary value on the exposure benefits to U.S. Postal at that time.

The studies claimed that for $32.3 million spent by U.S. Postal from 2001–2004, there was $103.6 million in publicity benefits with no less than a 300-percent return on investment in any year of the sponsorship.

There was no study to show any potential fallout in negative publicity from being attached to Armstrong's now-tainted era in the wake of his doping confession in a television interview with Oprah Winfrey last month.

Links to the biggest doping scandal in cycling history could have provided damaging publicity for U.S. Postal, already forced to stop Saturday delivery later this year because of financial woes.

Armstrong was stripped of his Tour de France titles last year after the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) uncovered overwhelming evidence, including testimony from 26 witnesses, that he was at the heart of a major doping conspiracy.

FCB Sports Marketing's evaluation of U.S. Postal's 2001 benefits said that $6.1 million in sponsorship investment brought US Postal $18.5 million in exposure, and global publicity could boost the value as high as $40 million.

The studies used equivalent costs of advertising time during television coverage of the Tour or print advertising in newspapers or on websites where mentions of U.S. Postal or photos with its logo were shown.

Also measured was the value of Armstrong's image with the U.S. Postal logo in such areas as magazine covers, television talk shows, commercials for other sponsors such as Nike, and other appearances and marketing opportunities.

Studies also recognized "intangible benefits" from Armstrong's popularity at the time, but noted "there are no standards and the value lies with the individual corporation and their objectives."

The 2002 sponsorship of $6.1 million was given a return value of $19.3 million, the $10 million in 2003 was given a value of $31.2 million and the 2004 backing, also $10 million, was given a value of $34.6 million.